Although, I use creatine and protein as well as my everyday mutli-vitamins, you should eat a balanced diet. I use Creatine and Protein shakes, but both have been shown to have some side effects. If you plan on using things like protein you should learn the risk by an article not written by a body-buidling organization, body-builders, or anything that has to do with corportations as they will be misleading. For example, I read an article from a body building company taking about how harmless Creatine is and how studies in labs are misleading and because creatine is formed in the body there are no major side effect, but this is not the case. Yes your body forms creatine, but hey your body forms testosterones and even some estrogen, but that doesn't mean taking steroids is good for you. Creatine has been shown to weaken the immune system of the Kidney's and Liver in short term studies. There has been no long term studies on the use of creatine, but it's believe that it may cause heart probelms. Protein studies have shown can cause heart disease if used incorrectly. Technically a person can get the right amount of protein from eating a steak. Doctors suggest certain types of carbs for muscle gain, but trainers tend to believe in protein. Most doctors believe a combination of some carbs and some protein probably works best as your body needs both carbs and protein to function correctly. Yes some carbs are important in a person's diet. I try to eat a good source of vegetables and some meat. As said I use creatine and protein, although 1/3 of people claim that creatine doesn't work for them. Studies show that this is because many people already create enough creatine in their own body that taking anymore creatine the body just rejects it and the person will urinate most of it out. When eating a salad is important not to use low fat and non-fat dressing! This may surprise some people, but the fat in salad dressing helps the body absorb the vitamins in the vegetables, infact your body won't absorb any vitamins from some vegetables with out having that fat content. A dressing with Olive oil is probably best. Work out lifting weights should be every other day with cardio work out inbetween. This should give you around 3-4 days of actually weight lifting. The cardio is important because it exercises your circulatory system. Many body builders I talk to take Sunday off from any actual workout, because a complete resting period allows the muscles to heal. To build muscle you have to allow them to rip and than heal inorder to gain mass. You shouldn't get into a habit of sset proceedures, but should randomize the workout so your body doesn't get too use to a workout. For example: My friend who works out amy do a system of 1-2-3 but the following week he changes to a 3-2-1 and the next week he does 2-1-3. Another example is sometime he may go for large weight and than other times during a week he may go for low weights but high amount of reps. I find it better to work out with a friend as it's not only safer, but both can push people to work harder. As stated the most important aspects of being healthy is eating right and exercise for your body to funtion correctly.